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Research has said eggs are good for the last 20 years. It was believed they were bad due to their high cholesterol and cholesterol was considered bad across th

Research has said eggs are good for the last 20 years. It was believed they were bad due to their high cholesterol and cholesterol was considered bad across the board. But modern research shows it's more complicated than that.

endisneigh 6y ago
I personally think eggs are good for you and eat at least one a day, but there have been studies that have shown results that might lead you to believe otherwise like the following: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/87/4/964/4633437 https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/87/4/964/4633437 ". In addition, consumption of ≥7 eggs/wk was associated with a modestly but significantly greater risk of total mortality in this population. In contrast, egg consumption was associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality in a dose-response fashion among physicians with diabetes (2 times the risk of death in people consuming ≥7 eggs/wk than in those consuming <1 egg/wk). Furthermore, our data provided suggestive evidence for a greater risk of MI and stroke with egg consumption among male physicians with diabetes. In contrast, baseline hypercholesterolemia status did not influence the relation between egg consumption and CVD or mortality." The same study admits that the finding was not conclusive though and that there have been other studies that have contradicted their results.
- airstrike 6y ago
  They never controlled for preparation method or associated ingredients (read: butter) so it's basically useless data
  - endisneigh 6y ago
    I completely agree - that's exactly my point. A lot of these studies are not done with the necessary level of rigor needed to draw a definitive conclusion. So we're left with a bunch of half baked "contradictory" studies in many cases.
    - pmiller2 6y ago
      How exactly would you conduct a nutrition study to the "necessary level of rigor needed to draw a definitive conclusion?" The most interesting studies are the ones that follow people long term, and you can't exactly force people to eat according to a specific diet for a period of years.
- derekp7 6y ago
  The one thing that is hard to control for in the studies is if people who crave eggs (and therefore consume more of them) also crave other things that are bad for them. Or if the genetic makeup can cause an increased craving for specific food types (for example genetics influences whether cilantro enhances food or tastes like dish soap).
atweiden 6y ago
> Research has said eggs are good for the last 20 years. McGill published a study in 2012 [1] which shows egg yolk consumption is connected in an exponential relationship with carotid plaque area (see: pg 3): > ... both tobacco smoking and egg yolk consumption accelerate atherosclerosis, in a similar fashion: the increase in plaque area is linear with age, but it is exponential with smoking history and egg consumption. Curve fitting with the cases that had non-zero values for egg yolks and smoking showed that an exponential fit was better than a linear fit. [1]: http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/hanley/tmp/Applications/EggyolkPlaqueSmoking.pdf http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/hanley/tmp/Applic...
MPSimmons 6y ago
The fact that dietary cholesterol has no impact on serum cholesterol should have shot this down immediately, but shrug
xtracto 6y ago
I remember my father (a scientist himself) stop eating eggs about ~25 years ago because of the "science" and at a later time resuming eating eggs because of that other "science".

endisneigh 6y ago

I personally think eggs are good for you and eat at least one a day, but there have been studies that have shown results that might lead you to believe otherwise like the following: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/87/4/964/4633437 https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/87/4/964/4633437 ". In addition, consumption of ≥7 eggs/wk was associated with a modestly but significantly greater risk of total mortality in this population. In contrast, egg consumption was associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality in a dose-response fashion among physicians with diabetes (2 times the risk of death in people consuming ≥7 eggs/wk than in those consuming <1 egg/wk). Furthermore, our data provided suggestive evidence for a greater risk of MI and stroke with egg consumption among male physicians with diabetes. In contrast, baseline hypercholesterolemia status did not influence the relation between egg consumption and CVD or mortality." The same study admits that the finding was not conclusive though and that there have been other studies that have contradicted their results.

airstrike 6y ago
They never controlled for preparation method or associated ingredients (read: butter) so it's basically useless data
- endisneigh 6y ago
  I completely agree - that's exactly my point. A lot of these studies are not done with the necessary level of rigor needed to draw a definitive conclusion. So we're left with a bunch of half baked "contradictory" studies in many cases.
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    How exactly would you conduct a nutrition study to the "necessary level of rigor needed to draw a definitive conclusion?" The most interesting studies are the ones that follow people long term, and you can't exactly force people to eat according to a specific diet for a period of years.
derekp7 6y ago
The one thing that is hard to control for in the studies is if people who crave eggs (and therefore consume more of them) also crave other things that are bad for them. Or if the genetic makeup can cause an increased craving for specific food types (for example genetics influences whether cilantro enhances food or tastes like dish soap).

atweiden 6y ago

> Research has said eggs are good for the last 20 years. McGill published a study in 2012 [1] which shows egg yolk consumption is connected in an exponential relationship with carotid plaque area (see: pg 3): > ... both tobacco smoking and egg yolk consumption accelerate atherosclerosis, in a similar fashion: the increase in plaque area is linear with age, but it is exponential with smoking history and egg consumption. Curve fitting with the cases that had non-zero values for egg yolks and smoking showed that an exponential fit was better than a linear fit. [1]: http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/hanley/tmp/Applications/EggyolkPlaqueSmoking.pdf http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/hanley/tmp/Applic...

MPSimmons 6y ago

The fact that dietary cholesterol has no impact on serum cholesterol should have shot this down immediately, but shrug

xtracto 6y ago

I remember my father (a scientist himself) stop eating eggs about ~25 years ago because of the "science" and at a later time resuming eating eggs because of that other "science".